	<h1 align="center">Introduction</h1>
<p>Bonjour and welcome to the largest and most comprehensive directory of the Web 
  -- created and maintained by volunteers! In this document I intend to help familiarise 
  you with the exciting world of the Open Directory Project. </p>
<p>As you read you will encounter terms with which you are unfamiliar. When this 
  happens, don't fret, just consult the <a href="/ddp/glossary/">Glossary</a>. </p>
  <h3>History</h3>
  <table border="0" width="258" align="right">
    <tr> 
      <td><img src="/ddp/i/162.jpg" width="258" height="210"></td>
    </tr>
    <tr> 
      <td><b><font size="-1">Rich Skrenta - one of the founders of DMOZ.</font></b></td>
    </tr>
  </table>
  <p>The Open Directory Project (ODP) was founded in June of 1998 and was originally 
    named Newhoo It was started by Rich Skrenta and Bob Truel in California, U.S.A 
    as an open-content directory edited by volunteers. It was bought by Netscape 
    in 1998 and Netscape/AOL continue to operate the site free of charge. </p>
  <p>The ODP now lists nearly four million sites and has surpassed all other directories 
    in size. This amazing feat has been accomplished by over 50, 000 volunteer 
    editors. </p>
  <h3>Guidelines </h3>
  <p>A term which will be etched on your cerebrum with dazzling speed -- and with 
    good reason -- the <a href="http://dmoz.org/guidelines/">Directory Guidelines</a> 
    are an official list of do's and don'ts, our codes of conduct, a style guide, 
    and an overview of the DMOZ experience. They are mandatory reading. </p>
  <h3>Categories</h3>
  <p>The ODP, or 'DMOZ' as it is often known, classifies the Web by means of 'categories'. 
    A category is broadly defined as 'a collection of things sharing a common 
    attribute. At the top of the hierarchy are sixteen 'top-level' categories. 
    These form the broadest level of classification. All other categories exist 
    underneath these.</p>
  <p> For example, <a href="http://dmoz.org/Regional/">Regional/</a> is a top-level 
    category. Its <a href="http://dmoz.org/Regional/desc.html">category description</a> 
    defines its scope as "The Regional category contains English language sites 
    about geographical regions of the world.". Given that it contains over 1,265,000 
    sites, it would clearly not be practical to index them all in this top-level 
    category -- for one thing, attempting to find a specific site from an alphabetical 
    list of one million would be very difficult. Thus, Regional/ is sub-divided 
    into smaller categories. As you would expect, the next level of classification 
    is by continent -- given that all of the "geographical regions of the world" 
    are part of a continent this is the most logical way to organise such material. 
    Continents are then sub-dived into countries, and so on. </p>
    <h2>World/</h2>
    <p>You will notice above that the description of Regional excludes all sites 
      in languages other than English. This is because non-English sites are listed 
      in another top-level category, <a href="http://dmoz.org/World/">World</a>. 
      Each sub-category of World corresponds to a language, and contains only 
      sites written in that language.Many World/ &lt;language&gt; categories are 
      organised in a manner similar to Top/ (non-World categories). For example, 
      the German category for Slovakia, which is also located under the equivalent 
      of Regional/Europe, is <a href="http://dmoz.org/World/Deutsch/Regional/Europa/Slowakei/">World/Deutsch/Regional/Europa/Slowakei</a> 
      . </p>
  <h2>Sites</h2>
  <p>Sites are categorised in the most appropriate category. So a site about Slovakia 
    in general are listed directly under <a href="http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/Slovakia/">Regional/Europe/Slovakia/</a> 
    , whereas when a number of sites are found all dealing with a particular aspect 
    of the country, they may be grouped together in a sub-category. </p>
  <table border="0" width="258" align="left">
    <tr> 
      <td><a href="http://directory.google.com/"><img src="/ddp/i/164.gif" border="0" width="258" height="146"></a></td>
    </tr>
    <tr> 
      <td><b><font size="-1">The Google Directory - one of many users of DMOZ 
        data.</font></b></td>
    </tr>
  </table>
  <h2>ODP Data</h2>
  <p>The ODP makes its content available for free download by anybody who is willing 
    to abide by the licence. One file contains details of the Directory's structure 
    (e.g. the names of all the categories) and another contains the Directory's 
    content (the URLs, titles, and descriptions of all listed sites). Users of 
    this data include Google, Netscape, and AOL.</p>
  <h2>Community</h2>
  <p> Among other things the ODP is a community -- consisting of thousands of 
    volunteers with different ages, beliefs, backgrounds, and languages. This 
    necessitates: </p>
<ul>
  <li>Respectful communication -When communicating with colleagues you should 
    attempt to respect their viewpoints and background. It is always inappropriate 
    to intimidate or insult other editors. On a related point, many editors do 
    not speak English as a first language, so criticisms of others' writing abilities 
    are best avoided. </li>
  <li>Respect of others' work - Although you have editing permission in a category, 
    you don't own it. Before making any major changes ensure that you discuss 
    your ideas with your colleagues. </li>
</ul>
  <h2>Editors</h2>
  <p> The editor community is structured like so: </p>
  <p align="center"><img src="/ddp/i/163.gif" width="228" height="288" align="absmiddle"></p>
  <p>While senior editors do have additional privileges, this diagram should be 
    seen as a structure of editor experience, rather than over-emphasising editors' 
    'power'. These positions are merely tools for editors to perform additional 
    tasks; not titles to flout. When they join, editors are 'category editors'. 
    Editors who show a good understanding of the Guidelines, and the ability to 
    work well with others may be candidates for promotion. The diagram also illustrates 
    the paths of promotions that editors may follow, and the order in which different 
    promotions are available. The decision as to whether promote editors rests 
    with metas and Staff. </p>
  <p align="center"><a href="/ddp/10002/">Basic concepts explained --&gt;</a> </p>

	